Nut meat picking machine



July 21, 1936. 1.. R. STONE ET AL 2,048,204

NUT MEAT PICKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 24, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I fl \\ I j i INVENTORS L.R. Stop/e EB. S172; 617/ L. R'STONE ET AL 2,048,204

July 21, 1936.

' NUT MEAT PICKING MACHINE Filed Dec. 24, 1934 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 20- .3 l I 4 It z 16 J7 J2 INVENTORS L.R.SZO ?/e 7 BY EE.Sl)?/0Z]?/ .QAAJz...

' ATTORNEY Patented July 21, 1936 "ATENT OFFICE V NUT MEAT'PICKING'MACHINE Levi It. Stone, Lodi, and Earl E. Smith, Chico, Calif.; said Smith assignor to said Stone Application December 24, 1934, Serial No. 758,944

3 Claims.

This invention relates to machines for separating nut meats from the broken shells, and particularly to black or hard shell walnuts.

Owing to the nature, of these nuts, the shells must be cracked into a number of relatively small pieces in order to release the meats, which also become inevitably broken up small, and cannot be removed from the shell pieces by ordinary screening operations. Neither can separation be effected by. a blowing treatment on account of the fact that even small pieces of the thick shell are apt to be as heavy as meat pieces, and a blast of sufiicient strength to carry off the shells would also remove an appreciable percentage of the meats.

'It is therefore the principal object of our invention to provide a simple yet highly efiicient machine by means of which the nut meats are mechanically separated or picked from the shells, From our experiments with the machines now in operation we have determined that the cost of separating or picking per pound of nut meats is cut to practically one-third of the cost incident to ordinary hand picking methods at present generally employed.

A further object of the invention 'is to produce a simple and inexpensive device andyet one which will be exceedingly efiective for the purpose for which it is designed.

7 These objects we accomplish by means of such structure and relative arrangement of parts as will fully appear by a perusal of the following specification and claims.

In the drawings similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several views:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of our improved machine.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary longitudinal section of the same.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Referring now more particularly to the characters of reference on the drawings, the machine comprises spaced side frame beams I supported a suitable distance from the floor on legs 2. Running between the beams I from end to end and for the full width therebetween is an endless belt 3 supported on pulleys 4, one of which is driven. This belt is of special construction being of thick sponge rubber for the purpose which Will be seen later.

A feed hopper 5 for the cracked shells and meats is supported from and above the beams I and the upper run of the belt at the head end of the same, the feed from the hopper being controlled by a driven roller 6 which forms the lower part of the outlet of the hopper.

Extending transversely of and above the belt is a row of rotary picking units. Each unit comprises an axial supporting shaft 1 journaled in the beams l and on which is mounted a plurality of small closely spaced thin sharp-toothed discs 8. Smooth surfaced spacer discs 9, somewhat smaller in diameter than the toothed discs are disposed therebetween and maintain the same separated. The teeth on the discs 8 are preferably ratchet shape or of similar form to those on rip saws, the radial edges of the teeth being the following edges relative to the direction of bination with the yieldable sponge rubber belt thereunder and on which the shells and meats are supported, an efficient picking action is obtained. The shells and meats are constantly moving along the belt past and under the discs. As the downwardly movable teeth encounter any meats in their path such meats are impaled on the teeth and lifted clear of the belt, as indicated at M in Figure 2; the resistance of the meats to being thus impaled being less than the resistance of the belt to being compressed, though the belt may of course yield slightly.

If however pieces of shell are in the path of the teeth, said teeth being incapable of cutting into the shell merely press the same into the belt, as shown at S, and such pieces are carried beyond the discs without being picked up and are finally discharged over the rear end of the belt into any suitable waste chute or receptacle. Any meats which are not picked up by the discs of the unit nearest the hopper pass to the succeeding unit and so on. Thus, by the time the matter on the belt has been acted on by the last unit of the row of pickers, all the meats of any appreciable size have been removed therefrom.

In order to hold the belt in a proper operating position relative to the picking units, and also to alter the relative yieldability of the belt to suit different conditions, we mount vertically adjustable rollers l2 on the beams l directly under the different picking units and engage the under surface of the upper run of the belt;

The meats picked up by the teeth of the discs are disengaged therefrom by spring fingers l3 which are disposed between the various discs and which engage and extend at a downward angle from the spacer discs 9 'in tangential relation theret0,iin the direction of rotation vof the upper periphery ofttherdiscsc The fingers of each'fuunit are supported on a transverse rod I4 supported from the'beams I and mounted above the adinto the trough.

Endless conveyor belts l6, one for each trough,

, the=bea-mszl onews'etof such pulleysf-being-tdlrivena 'I'heu'pulleysware dispcsedvsovthatthe upper, runs of the belts llif'rid'eealong 1217116. bottom. ofuthe' troughs: and-extend fort-the full; widthvthereof.

25 Saiduupper-fruns,passathrough-eslots l8 :in the V beamsel thet-sl'ots-at'the-forward endof the :belts being: sufficiently mlarge to provide suitable outletswforwthe meats carriediby; theubelts;v Chutes l-9 .of-su-itable form register with: the 01.111181325101751 30 I 8zand-are secured to iand=project outwardlyr from theiadjacentibeam J and cooperate'with the. cor-a responding apulleys l! to-provide fcrra controlleddownwardudischargezofi:the meats from -the-'adjaeent end of the-beltsac Such: meats may there-.1

' gg zforer beedelizvered into sacks or-the likeadisposeds to catch the meats dropping .from..the=be1-ts=.-1 7

Im order :to: yieldably hold the i'fingersegainst the spacendiscs rthey are. preferably formed with downward-extensions "20. .which engage thezunder f 40% surface vof -rsaid discs; aas-shown-- in Figural-i 'I 'he belts 3-and. lfi-andethe=roller 6-are driven; atrsuitablet low-speeds and. in proper coordinated; directions from .a; drive shaft 21;. by suitablegearing wand .other :connections -=--therebetween.r

45 Inasmuch: assame-connections. or.- drive 1 mechanisms iarecapable .of .considerable z rearrange-.. ment tanduofs themselves form no .part .of 1 our: invention qitui's "not: deemed necessary: :tox spew-v cificallygdescribevthe samew Fromnthe foregoingrdescription it will be readily "'seenuthat we. have: produced such -ai-device as. substan-tiall-yiulfills ithe' objects- 0f theiinvention asset-iortmhereinw V While .this specification sets forth in detail the present and preferred'construction of the device, still in practice such deviationsfromsuch detail may be resorted'to as do not form a departure from the spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims. J V o Having thus described our invention; what we claim as new and useful and desire" to secure by Letters Patent is: V V V 1. :A nut-meat vpicking machine comprising a conveyor belt on whichr' the meats tobe picked are deposited, a rotary picking unit above and extending transversely of the belt, said unit includinggarplurality of spaced meat impaling elements and relatively, small smooth su'rfaced spaceridi'sts therebetween, a transverse conveyor above the belt behind the picking unit and on a 7 level: belc w thetopuof :the spacer discs, fiat fingers V s resting on the spacer discs and extending thence are mounted on pulleys l1 disposed outwardly"of' seriesmfathin .driven:.discs .disposedabove' the belt g their axesi-"transversely :thereof, said: discs having sharpipqinted and relatively long ratchet:

teethaaboutqtheir :periphery; disposed with their.

leadingeedgesssubstantially,tangentxto:a circle.

concentric'with the axis of the discs andzawi'th their.trailingeedges substantially; radial; of the discs-,imndiwithwhevpointsof .the lowermost teeth."

adjacent.- the belt; said- :disc's forming ,a unit; to

impale andi-liftameatsvfromtthe belt butpressing: shella-pieceseinto-tthe belt. untilxsaid pieces have 40g meved-beyondi-the rteethe I 3; im-a machineforiseparat-ingnut meatsafrome sheil .ipieces aflrelatively thick cushion; :belt on: which said meats andpieces :are: deposited; a"

transversely extending rotary pickinggunitabove theebelt; friction rollers: on the: unit at its :ends, relativelytnonr-yielding;stripsralong the edges-of: v thexbeltgin drivingcontactwith the rollers,-and.- o a vertically adjustablerroller below'the belt and: engagingethe:samexdirectlyj -under-the iunit; V C 

